Canberra cabinet making is an inexact science. In creating a front bench, the roll call of winners and losers is writ large. Then comes the harder stuff of gauging the power and personal chemistry throbbing …

Australian politics has grafted presidential habits onto a system of cabinet government. And recently, the Oz body politic has rejected the graft. The mismatch between presidential aspiration and parliamentary power introduces stutters and stuff-ups into …

The defence and foreign relations debate in Australia is bedevilled by several entirely obvious flaws. In the first place, foreign affairs people very seldom mention defence while the defence people seldom emerge from technical assessments …